Cairns Jazz Bass PUP

[Beedster]

Have one of the above installled in an old 70's Fender, Anyone know anything about them?
Chris

[warwickhunt]

Jim Cairns (if it is the same) is a guitar/bass builder from up my neck of the woods, he's been going for ages and he will have no doubt out-sourced his pups etc. How do you know it is a Cairns? I didn't think that he badged his electrics.

[Beedster]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='161846' date='Mar 22 2008, 04:44 PM']Jim Cairns (if it is the same) is a guitar/bass builder from up my neck of the woods, he's been going for ages and he will have no doubt out-sourced his pups etc. How do you know it is a Cairns? I didn't think that he badged his electrics.[/quote]

Makes sense, I bought the bass from a guy from Newcastle Pic below

[attachment=6740:PIC_0036.jpg]

[warwickhunt]

So it's technically not a SC Jazz pup; from the look of it, it's a split coil humbucker in a Jazz casing.

Not sure who he got to do his pups but if you were desperate to know then take a look at the thread re. 'Howard's Bass Place' in Newcastle. Then possibly contact Howard as he used to do a lot of work with JC so he may be able to help you. Just out of interest have you checked to see if JC is still building guitars/basses?

[Beedster]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='161865' date='Mar 22 2008, 05:36 PM']So it's technically not a SC Jazz pup; from the look of it, it's a split coil humbucker in a Jazz casing.

Not sure who he got to do his pups but if you were desperate to know then take a look at the thread re. 'Howard's Bass Place' in Newcastle. Then possibly contact Howard as he used to do a lot of work with JC so he may be able to help you. Just out of interest have you checked to see if JC is still building guitars/basses?[/quote]

Cheers John, excuse my ignorance, but what would be the difference between a jazz PUP and a split coil humbucker sound-wise?
Chris

[wateroftyne]

Jim rewound the pup in my '72 P ages ago. He did a good job.. it's lovely.

He actually supported us at a gig last summer - it was the first time he'd done a gig for years. I had a good old chat with him when I found out who he was. Nice fella.

He was Chris Rea's tech back in the old days, by the way.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='Beedster' post='161869' date='Mar 22 2008, 05:45 PM']Cheers John, excuse my ignorance, but what would be the difference between a jazz PUP and a split coil humbucker sound-wise?
Chris[/quote]

In crude terms think P sound rather than Jazz! Fuller, minus the hum that you 'sometimes' get with SC. I think Dimarzio did a lot of Jazz style pups back in the 70/80s that were this style. Many of the big names (EMG Bartolini etc.) offer this config of HBing Jazz style pup. The view by some is that you lose some of the clarity and openness of the classic SC Jazz pup and I'd tend to agree but it depends on what you are after.

[Beedster]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='161881' date='Mar 22 2008, 06:08 PM']Jim rewound the pup in my '72 P ages ago. He did a good job.. it's lovely.

He actually supported us at a gig last summer - it was the first time he'd done a gig for years. I had a good old chat with him when I found out who he was. Nice fella.

He was Chris Rea's tech back in the old days, by the way.[/quote]

Cheers mate, good to know it's got some pedigree. It came out of my '73 P/J and was aparently in there when the previous owner bought it in the 80's. It was really overpowered by the P-PUP - largely because the J-PUP is positioned right up against the bridge - so I got Wizard to overwind me a replacement. I think I'm gonna put this in another bass and see how it goes.
Cheers
Chris
PS did you buy that maple fretless?

[Beedster]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='161920' date='Mar 22 2008, 07:12 PM']In crude terms think P sound rather than Jazz! Fuller, minus the hum that you 'sometimes' get with SC. I think Dimarzio did a lot of Jazz style pups back in the 70/80s that were this style. Many of the big names (EMG Bartolini etc.) offer this config of HBing Jazz style pup. The view by some is that you lose some of the clarity and openness of the classic SC Jazz pup and I'd tend to agree but it depends on what you are after.[/quote]

Cheers John, thought that might be the case. As the bass I took it from is now a fretless, it'sprobably best that I've replaced it with an SC (i.e., provides greater tonal range than two humbuckers)
Chris

[EBS_freak]

Jim Cairnes is a pickup winder/luthier from Redcar, Middlesborough and mostly known for being the original pickup guru for Burns guitars and also being Chris Rea's guitar tech. I have a strat that he built for me and also he made my first bass which is in the bass porn section if I remember correctly. (found it - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=10152"]Jim Cairnes bass[/url]). I have not had much experience of Jim's bass pickups apart from the single coils that are in my bass - they sound pretty sweet. The single coils in my guitar are magic. It really is Chris Rea's Road to Hell tone. He also has a magic strat circuit called the Trimax which is well worth checking out.

As far as I know, he is still going strong - a mate of mine swears by Jim's pups and buys from him on a regular basis - and if anybody needs to contact him, I think I have a contact number for him and I may even have one of his old catalogues floating around.

He is not on the web anywhere - he himself confesses that he is computer illiterate!

As for badging his pickups, his single coil guitar pickups have a very distinctive surround on them. I've attached a pic of my Cairnes strat so you can see. (Now, I'm not usually a fan of spalted wood... but this guitar is... well, magic. I love it)

[attachment=6749:mail.jpg]

[jimstrummer]

Hi Fellas,

Anyone got Jims number ? 01642 ?

I've got one of his blue buisness cards somewhere but cant find it.

Cheers,

[lineboss58]

Jim has just finished a refurbishment of an instrument he built for me way back in 76, it was the third guitar he had built and is designated 003. 001 was destroyed 002 was built for my bass teacher who is saddly no longer with us he was a great bassist, so i am the proud owner of the second oldest cairns instrument in the world.

[NickPB]

I found out about jim from a friend in newcastle, i was looking at getting some new pickups for my strat. I went to go see him in Redcar, took my guitar, and i now have a strat which i guarantee noone else will have one in the world that sounds so unique. He did the most rediculas wiring job on it, he even stated himself, it was the most complicated circuit he had ever done.

Played some of his guitars when i was there aswell, and oh my.... the guys a genius.

I strongly recomend anyone to sample some of his pickups. He will do whatever you ask him for, tune the pickups to your own specifications, litterally anything. And hes a great guy!

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='NickPB' post='255194' date='Aug 5 2008, 10:53 AM']I found out about jim from a friend in newcastle, i was looking at getting some new pickups for my strat. I went to go see him in Redcar, took my guitar, and i now have a strat which i guarantee noone else will have one in the world that sounds so unique. He did the most rediculas wiring job on it, he even stated himself, it was the most complicated circuit he had ever done.

Played some of his guitars when i was there aswell, and oh my.... the guys a genius.

I strongly recomend anyone to sample some of his pickups. He will do whatever you ask him for, tune the pickups to your own specifications, litterally anything. And hes a great guy![/quote]

Tell us more about the wiring - what has he done? I have always been a fan of his Trimax system... what's he done in your strat? I'll say it again, Jim Cairnes makes the best single coils bar none. What pickups did you go for? My fave are the CLS512s...